The Mime Order Review



Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Pre-ordered (release date January 27th 2015)

Paige Mahoney has escaped the brutal prison camp of Sheol 1, but her problems have only just begun: many of the survivors are missing and she is the most wanted person in London…

As Scion turns it’s all seeing-eye on the dreamwalker, the mime-lords and mime-queens of the city’s gangs are invited to a rare meeting of the Unnatural Assembly. Jaxon Hall and his Seven Seals prepare to take centre stage, but there are bitter fault lines running through the clairvoyant community and dark secrets around every corner.

Then the Rephaim begin crawling out from the shadows. Paige must keep moving, from Seven Dials to Grub Street, to the secret catacombs of Camden, until the fate of the underworld can be decided.

This is my first review of this blog and I honestly couldn’t think of a better book to start with. I finished this book within 24 hours of receiving it. It is beautifully written and one of the most captivating books I have ever read. This is the second installment in a series of 7, called The Bone Season.

The Mime Order begins with a bang and starts exactly where The Bone Season left off; Paige having escaped Sheol 1 on the train back to London with a number of voyants by her side. As we seem to find with Paige, trouble always seems to follow her; not even a chapter into the book, she’s fighting for her life, as well as over 20 other voyants that have managed to escape with her, as they return to London.

In The Mime Order, Paige’s relationship with Jaxon has changed and I felt this from the first chapter. The power had shifted between them and although Paige is still Jaxon’s Mollisher, she is very much her own person in this book and you feel her becoming more independent as she realises that she doesn’t need to be someone’s slave anymore. From the outset, Paige wants to tell London about the Rephaim and Sheol 1. She even tries to set up an Unnatural Assembly meeting…which doesn’t end well for either parties. Due to circumstances I will not explain (spoilers!), a new Underlord is required and a scrimmage for a new leader takes place.

Jaxon and Paige are both determined to be in power so as Mime-Lord and Mollisher, they enter the scrimmage together; but everything is not as it seems. Jaxon and Paige are both fighting for different reasons, but for the same ultimate goal. Who will triumph? Where do the remaining Seven Seals fall into this? Where do the Rephaim fit in? Who will stay beside her?

Just like The Bone Season, The Mime Order has been left on a cliff-hanger. The cliff-hanger of all cliff-hangers. You find yourself thinking of every possible scenario once you’ve finished and quite frankly, you can’t stop thinking about it. This book gives you some understanding to how this will pan out to be a 7 part series, because honestly, I think it needs it. You find that Paige’s journey has just begun and there are many twists and turns in this book.

I find this series is nothing like I’ve read before. Shannon has clearly spent copious amounts of time and effort on this series. From the maps at the beginning of the book, to the explanation of The Seven Orders of Clairvoyance, to the glossary of foreign words that seem to crop up in this series, she has covered it all. And in a way that is so beautifully put together.

Many of the places in London she mentions, you will recognise yourself, which transports you to London and your imagination runs wild. For example, you find yourself in the markets of Camden Town as Paige is trying to find Warden and the detail that Shannon has given us, is just perfection. Even if you haven’t been there, the depth of detail she feeds to us, it will feel as though you have been.

I think my favourite part of this book is the knowledge we’ve all been desperate for. For example, we begin to learn about the Rephaim, the world that they come from and the story behind their existence. We learn more about the lives of the Seven Seals and the world they live in and the pressures they are under when working for Jaxon. I feel we learn a lot about Eliza in this book and she has fast become one of my favourite characters.

We are also introduced to a large number of new characters that live in London such as the mime-lords and mime-queens and mollishers of each Cohort. We are also introduced to new types of Clairvoyance and the skills each voyants have with this type of Clairvoyance. There are so many that we find out in this book and I find it fascinating.

Although the Rephaim don’t enter the book until around halfway through, there is still talk about them from Paige and the remaining Seven Seals. One Reph in particular always seems to creep into her mind; Warden. Warden was, and still continues to be my favourite character of the series. I find him absolutely magnificent. I have a connection to him that I’ve never got from any other character in a book. I find myself, like Paige, letting my defences down to the Warden the more I learn of him and the intimidation I felt for him in The Bone Season, is replaced in The Mime Order with awe, wonder, lust and love.

The Mime Order may be the second book in the series but I feel this book was the start of the revolution for Paige. She wants change and she will do anything to ensure that this will happen. She has become so much stronger, not only mentally but her gifts progress in ways that we can only imagine. Paige is fierce, determined and will do whatever it takes to get the freedom she deserves.

To conclude, The Mime Order was everything I wanted it to be and more. It keeps you on your toes and there are twists and turns in every chapter; you genuinely will have no idea which direction the book will take you in next. I thoroughly enjoyed this and am eagerly anticipating the third installment already. If you only read one book this year, make sure it’s this one! Literary perfection. 

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